Boston College Chronicle

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The Boston College

Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs january 28, 2016 VOL. 23 no. 10

University Launches New Strategic Planning Initiative

INSIDE 1,000 wins (so far) 2 •Photo: for Jerry York

Michael Lochhead and David Quigley named as co-chairs By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs

•Family Concert series is 10 years old •Innovative Consumer Insights lab opens

3 •Fr. Leahy, Mayor Walsh

present community grants

•Researchers advance Nobel-winning technique Alumna Cabral 4 •Photo: speaks at Unity Breakfast Math faculty 5 •LSOE, join forces for teacher mentoring program

returning to 6 •Noonan BC to present musical at Robsham this semseter

•Program to help studentathletes prepare for their post-collegiate lives

7 •Welcome Additions;

BC in the Media; Expert Opinion; Jobs

It Irish’ exhibi8 •’Making tion coming to McMullen

Lee Pellegrini

After a two-year, campus-wide effort, the University unveils its redesigned website Bold images and compelling videos. A responsive mobile design. Audience-driven navigation. These are just a few of the changes that will greet you on the redesigned BC.EDU website that was launched Jan. 17. The site is the result of a two-year, campus-wide effort to redefine how Boston College is viewed online. The last redesign was in 2006. The initial phase of a multi-year effort includes the University’s most heavily-trafficked pages: the BC homepage, Admission, Academics, Research, Campus Life, a new Jesuit, Catholic page and the BC News site. The redesign will expand across schools, departments and services in the coming months and years. A project team consisting of staff members from Information Technology Services (ITS), the Office of News & Public Affairs (NPA) and the Office of Marketing Communications (OMC), worked with a web design firm, R2integrated, and stakeholders across the University. “The project team worked very hard to ensure that the entire effort was truly inclusive,” said Vice President for Information Technology Services Mike Bourque. “Hundreds of meetings were held across campus to solicit input. A comprehensive review of higher education and industry websites was conducted. The end product has clearly benefited from the varied perspectives of faculty,

staff, students, alumni, parents and prospective students. It was heartening to have received such great support for our efforts.” The customized pages, which are still supported by the Adobe Experience Manager content management system, replace the prior, standardized BC web templates. Because the Boston College website has grown to more than 230 distinct sites and 40,000 individual web pages, the site needed to be streamlined, and duplicate content eliminated. In addition to the new look, users will enjoy increased functionality: a new event calendar, a streamlined news site and new audience pages that have items of interest to parents, students, faculty and staff. Dynamic photography, engaging videos and concise writing work alongside subtle animations and intuitive navigation to improve the overall user experience. “This first phase represents a transformation of Boston College’s image to the outside world,” said Jack Dunn, director of News & Public Affairs. “It is an impressive beginning, and we look forward to meeting with deans and vice presidents to discuss next steps in this ongoing and vitally important University project. “This web redesign would not have been possible without the extraordinary commitment of our project team,” Dunn continued. “Through Continued on page 6

QUOTE:

Boston College has initiated a new strategic planning effort that will identify institutional priorities for the next decade. The University Strategic Planning Initiative (USPI) comes on the heels of the successful $1.5 billion “Light the World” capital campaign, which was launched to support the Seven Strategic Directions identified in the University’s 2006 Strategic Plan. University President William P. Leahy, SJ, has named Executive Vice President Michael J. Lochhead and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley to serve as USPI co-chairs. They will work with a steering committee composed of deans, faculty, senior administrators and students to assess progress made on the Seven Strategic Directions, and identify new strategic priorities. The Steering Committee will

conduct internal analyses, gather recommendations and ideas from the University community and identify priority areas of focus before creating a strategic plan draft document for review by the Boston College Board of Trustees. The time frame for the planning effort will be roughly 18-24 months. “Embarking on a new strategic planning effort at Boston College requires attention to vision, mission and decisions,” said Fr. Leahy. “It calls us to devote time and energy to a candid assessment of our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities as a major university with a distinctive heritage, to dialogue, analysis and reflection, especially in the context of our history and tradition, and to the creative process, based on the conviction that people committed to strengthening our institution can develop plans that are aspirational and inspirational.” Added Lochhead, “Any sucContinued on page 4

BCSSW Colleagues Seek to Heighten Awareness of Social Isolation Risks By Sean Smith Chronicle Editor

A group of Boston College School of Social Work faculty, program administrators and students are co-leading a national initiative to eradicate social isolation, which they describe as “a silent killer – as dangerous to health as smoking.” To combat social isolation, the initiative calls for public education, interdisciplinary collaboration between health and human services professionals, and promoting “effective ways to deepen social connections and community for people of all ages.” The initiative is one of 12 that make up the Grand Challenges for Social Work, a wide-ranging

Lee Pellegrini

James Lubben is helping lead an initiative to address social isolation.

agenda organized by the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare (AASWSW) that seeks to enlist social work researchers and practitioners in addressing major societal issues. Other Grand ChalContinued on page 5

“It was always an enriching experience to be able to work with performers of a variety of ages [from five-25]. As a teen, I loved working with BC students because they were always so supportive, fun and were great role models. I’m lucky that I get to be on the other side of that now.” –Natasza Gawlick ’16 on the Family Concert series, page 2


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